Indian boys came up with a fabulous display, beating arch-rival Pakistan after getting past Iran earlier to top Pool A on Thursday in the Asian Junior Team Squash Championship being held here.
Like Wednesday, India had two matches scheduled in the day, but the one most looked forward to was against Pakistan. Things panned out well early in the day for the Velavan Senthilkumar and company when they got past Iran 3-0 with Abhay Singh setting the tone and the former providing the finishing touch for the winning margin and Aryaman Adik ensuring the 3-0 verdict.
The boys returned to continue against Pakistan from where they left off against Iran or so it seemed as national coach Cyrus Poncha described Abhay was in "sublime form". The energetic Indian had the Asian under-17 Champion, Abbas Zeb, running all along the court. With exceedingly good volleying, Abhay took control after shrugging off the initial resistance from Zeb. The Indian finished off the match in straight games and Velavan took over against Mehran Javed.
The Pakistani made his intentions clear by eking out the first game, but the Indian was back in touch from there and eventhough the fourth game went to extra points, he ensured that he crossed the winning margin. It was then left for Ranjit Singh to make it a 3-0 verdict with his hard-earned win over Manzoor Zaman.
"It was a fabulous show all round. Indian boys dominated through out," said Poncha.
However, there was little to cheer for the girls, virtually an experimental side with second seed Hong Kong blasting them 3-0 and Japan following it that up with another 3-0 verdict. Vedika Arun, Nikita Joshi and Sanya Vats made their appearance in that order against Hong Kong, but there was little to choose among them as the Indian challenge melted away swiftly. Against Japan, Aishwarya Bhattacharya made her appearance in place of Vedika but overall the fortunes remained unchanged.
The results:
Boys: Pool A: India bt Iran 3-0 (Abhay Singh bt Mojtaba Kafili 11-9, 11-5, 11-2; Velavan Senthilkumar bt Alireza Shameli 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-1; Aryaman Adik bt Mohammadreza 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-1); bt Pakistan 3-0 (Abhay Singh bt Abbaz Zeb 11-8, 11-4, 12-10; Velavan Senthilkumar bt Mehran Javed 10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 13-11; Ranjit Singh bt Mansoor Zaman 11-2, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9).
Girls: Pool B: Hong Kong bt India 3-0 (Cheng Nga Ching bt Vedika Arun 11-4, 11-5, 11-3; Lui Hiu Lam bt Nikita Joshi 11-3, 11-4, 11-4; Chan Sin Yuk bt Sanya Vats 11-6, 11-9, 11-7); Japan bt India 3-0 (Mami Sakai bt Aishwarya Bhattacharya 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6; Satomo Watanabe bt Nikita Joshi 11-3, 11-0, 11-1; Momoka Nakahira bt Sanya Vats 8-11, 14-12, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6).
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